Linggo, Disyembre 2, 2018

Faulty economic and labor policies, not Chinese workers, to blame for unemployment and underemployment

To counter what it sees as “misplaced nationalism”, labor leader Ka Leody de Guzman today of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) said that “Chinese migrant workers are not the enemy” as netizens point to the influx of migrant workers from China as a cause to the prevailing problem of lack of regular jobs.De Guzman clarified, “As a country with a proud history of anti-colonial struggles and as a responsible member of the community of nations, we should not tolerate encroachments of any foreign power to our sovereignty but neither should we approve of xenophobia and racism”.“Senator Villanueva should be criticized for fanning the flames of hatred against the Chinese workers and its people. We should learn to demarcate between the government of China and its people. Chinese migrant workers, who come to the Philippines to work, are no different from overseas contract workers, who seek greener pastures abroad because of the lack of regular jobs with decent wages in the country”, Ka Leody, who is also seeking a Senate seat under the Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) added.Sen. Villanueva earlier pressed for a crackdown on illegal Chinese workers as he also eluded that they are competing with Filipino workers in the domestic labor market. Senator Risa Hontiveros also issued the same sentiment.“As a workers’ organization, the BMP extends its class solidarity with the Chinese migrant workers and calls on the Duterte government to guarantee their safety against racist attacks, verbal or otherwise, in the same way that we want host countries to protect and safeguard overseas Filipino workers,” he emphasized.Ka Leody expressed deep sympathy with the Chinese workers in the country “because I am a worker and I know how they feel”. De Guzman was a garments worker from Aris Philippines before he served trade unions and labor organizations as a full-time organizer.According to the Labor department, they have issued 119,814 special working permits to foreigners from 2015 to 2017. Of the total, 51,000 permits were issued to Chinese nationals, with some 2,000 related to jobs in the construction in the past three years.He said that, “It is evident that the seething anger to Chinese migrant workers, as evident in various comments in social media, is rooted in the desperation of our countrymen for the lack of decent jobs in the country. The recent Social Weather Station survey points to eroding job optimism with an estimated unemployment of some 9.8 million Filipinos”.“Some of our irate countrymen, unfortunately, are barking up the wrong tree. They should blame the Duterte regime and its predecessors for the tacit policy of labor export, which relied on OFW remittances to keep the economy afloat, and for the state abandonment of local agriculture and industry, sectors that traditionally composes the bulk of the jobs generated for our labor force”.“But if they are condemning Duterte’s subservience to the Chinese government, BMP will gladly join them in protests against onerous foreign loans and its aggressive expansionist drive in the Southeast Asia, with Malacanang as its witting accomplice,” he concluded. ###

Martes, Oktubre 23, 2018

Labor leader calls to expedite the dismantling of haciendas in light of Sagay massacre

Veteran labor leader Leody de Guzman today condemned and blamed the Duterte administration for the massacre of nine farmers who were tilling privately owned farm land in between harvest and planting season to meet their families food requirements. Among the victims in the Hacienda Nene massacre in Sagay City included two minors and four females.

The labor leader said that the Sagay incident “will most likely occur again because of the current administration’s neglect and lack of resolve to address the plight of peasants and farmworkers three years into the president’s term”.

“As chief executive, Duterte has the authority to promulgate policies that will address the root causes of all agrarian disputes and expedite the process of the turning over huge tracts of land to agrarian beneficiaries but instead Duterte simply sat on the clamor for the redistribution of land,” said De Guzman, chairperson of Bukluran ng Manggagawang.Pilipino and candidate for a Senate seat under Partido Lakas ng Masa.

A study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) published last December 2017 reported that more than 600,000 hectares of agricultural land remain undistributed. The majority of which are in the Bicol region and the Negros provinces.

He also lamented that the administration in the past three years could have easily issued marching orders to the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board but instead the president opted to neglect their needs and even encouraged the encroachment of foreign companies on Mindanaoan farm lands.

De Guzman ascertained that even if the police capture the culprits and the mastermind to the brutal slayings agrarian unrests will continue to erupt nonetheless as the issue of landlessness and inexcusable neglect for the sector remains.

“Not unless the landlessness of the rural multitude is addressed, there will be massacres of hapless peasants dotting the archipelago. Poverty and social injustice will sweep the countryside fueling the rise of insurgency,” he warned.

The plight of the peasants and farmworkers, according to De Guzman “is further exacerbated by the liberalization of agriculture, the lack of government support for its modernization as cartels remain unchecked leaving the rural folks poor, hungry and desperate”.

He adds that the police should not blame the farmers for trespassing on privately owned farm land. “Their grumbling stomachs has driven them to plant crops that they can live on till the next planting season. We must seek policy reforms in order to alleviate their conditions”.

The labor leader also believes that food inflation brought about by the increase of excise taxes since January of this year contributed heavily to yoke burdened by farmers.

De Guzman called on the public specially the land reform claimants to utilize next year’s election to support candidates with realizable, concrete platforms to resolve land disputes and to punish rabid anti-land reform candidates by organizing a protest vote.###

Sabado, Oktubre 20, 2018

Commission on Elections commissioner Rowena Guanzon gained the support of a militant labor group and urged her to “stand firm against politicians and incumbent partylist groups in pushing for the dire reforms needed to make our electoral processes more inclusive”.

Speaking before the launching of “Eleksyon 2019,” Guanzon said she supported moves to amend Republic Act No. 7941 or the Party-list System Act since the anti-political dynasty constitutional provision lacks an enabling law to deter members of political clans to use the partylist elections as a backdoor for their ambitions.

Several incumbent officials came out with statements castigating Guanzon and reminded her to abide by the 2013 Supreme Court ruling that allows established political parties and non-marginalized groups to participate in the partylist elections

“Incumbent officials are doing everything in their power to stifle the electoral process by discriminating against the marginalized sectors who seek societal change via the elections. Waged and salaried workers account for almost 43 million of our population and yet we are the least represented in Congress,” lamented Luke Espiritu, president of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP).

The group welcomed the statements of Commissioner Guanzon and says it is refreshing to know she seeks that our elections return to the spirit to why the partylist system was infused in our electoral process in the first place.

Espiritu asserts that, “this is precisely the reason why we seek change by vying for a seat in Congress because discrimination and injustice has been molded and structured in our laws, making it impossible for democracy to work”.

Despite the 2013 SC decision, the group admits that it will take a Herculean effort on their part to come out triumphant in the 2019 elections.

Another obstacle to the inclusivity of the electoral process BMP claims, is the Senate bill 911 (SB 911) of Senator Sherwin Gatchalian that proposes to penalize those the COMELEC may deem as nuisance candidates.

SB 911 did not gain the support of the poll commissioner and called it discriminatory.

He adds, “Gatchalian’s bill is elitist to say the least. There should be no monopoly in public service. The barring of candidates from marginalized sections and even branding them as nuisance practically makes elections an exclusive exercise of the rich and famous”.

“Penalizing poor candidates will further breed marginalization and social injustice. SB 911 is not only a mockery of the elections but a mockery of democracy as well”, the labor leader reasoned.

The group advised Senator Gatchalian that if he genuinely seeks to reinforce the sanctity of our electoral processes, he must enact a bill that will prohibit candidacies of those with major offenses against the people.

“Plunderers, human rights violators, protectors of criminal syndicates, those who tolerate impunity and the like are the ones that should be prohibited from running. They are the ones who mock the entire legal system even if their day jobs are legislators,” he suggested.

BMP banded with groups Teachers Dignity Coalition, womens group Oriang, Sanlakas and Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod to form Partido Lakas ng Masa Coalition which seeks a Senate seat as well as representation in House of Representatives through the partylist elections.###

Biyernes, Oktubre 19, 2018

Nationwide protests against new version of proposed Charter: RBH No. 15 (Cha-cha, ‘nak) is the evil spawn of the Duterte-GMA alliance

Protests in several key cities and urban areas were held today to condemn the Resolution of Both Houses No. 15 (RBH No. 15), a new version of proposed changes in the Constitution sponsored by House Speaker Gloria Arroyo, along with 21 other lawmakers.

“Duterte has long since harped on Cha-cha and federalism as the solution to the misery and poverty of the Filipino people. But with RBH No. 15, his ulterior motives are brought to the fore. Their version of Cha-cha is self-serving to say the least. It would not address the urgent concerns of the workers and the poor - skyrocketing inflation, starvation wages, contractualization, the continued defunding of social services in the national budget,” Partido Lakas ng Masa Coalition (PLM Coalition) spokesperson, Leody de Guzman said.

He added, “RBH No. 15 paves the way for a more liberalized plunder of the national economy and the nation’s coffers, by foreign monopolies and political dynasties. It is an evil spawn - a Cha-cha, ‘nak – between Gloria Arroyo - a rabid pro-capitalist economist before she became president - and Rodrigo Duterte - the warlord from Davao and current resident of Malacanang”.

Deleted: Prohibition on political dynasties and term limits of public officials

The labor leader explained that RBH No. 15 removed the prohibition on political dynasties after failing to enact an enabling law to implement the ban on dynasties for more than three decades.

“Without this, voters will be forced to choose the lesser evil among political clans, or between rival siblings of a ruling dynasty, in the upcoming May 2019 elections,” he expounded.

The RBH No. 15 also junked the prevailing term limits for public officials. “The term limit brought discomfort to political dynasties as they were forced to transfer position to their spouse or their children in order to maintain in power. The Duterte-GMA Cha-cha sought a Gordian Knot solution to this overriding concern of political dynasties”.

The RBH No. 15 also junked the entire section of the Constitution on “National Economy and Patrimony”. De Guzman said, “The spirit of the prevailing highest law of the land is ‘the Philippines for Filipinos’, hence the 40% limit on foreign corporations in select industries including their ownership on our resources - natural and man-made. This view is obsolete for neoliberal economists like Gloria Arroyo. Now, as if the liberalization of the local economy is not enough, they want a more liberalized set-up to entice more foreign investors to own our country. This proposal is very dangerous, if not treacherous, especially with the expansionist drive of Chinese capital, particularly in Southeast Asia”.

The labor leader, who is also running for the senate, elucidated, “Even though the 1987 Constitution has defects, it has an entire article on ‘social justice and human rights’ it gave recognition to structural injustices in Philippine society. Hence, the creation of an entire article containing the rights of labor, agrarian reform and natural resources, urban land reform and housing, health, women, and the role of people’s organization, in order to protect the majority poor from abuses by the rich and the powerful”.

“Yet, the existing Charter merely granted a nominal recognition to these rights because political power remained concentrated in the hands of the elite. The civilian population is virtually taken out of the political sphere in between elections. In RBH No. 15, some of these rights are scattered throughout the proposed constitution. But without recognition to the principle of social justice and the existence of structural injustices, these rights become ineffectual and illusory”.

Member organizations of PLM Coalition held protests in several cities Friday against RBH No. 15. The mass actions, held in Manila, Laguna, Negros Occidental, Leyte and Cebu, also highlighted the urgent demands on gut issues such as the call for price control on all basic commodities, the scrapping of the TRAIN Law, abolition of contractualization, the enactment of a P750 national minimum wage and the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law. ###

Miyerkules, Oktubre 17, 2018

Economic managers hit once more for “kid’s gloves approach” to inflation

Progressive organizations lashed out today at the Development Budget Coordination Committee for not taking measures bold and decisive enough to combat imminent price hikes as Filipinos prepare for the yuletide season.

They likewise criticized them for prescribing “the same, worn-out developmental strategy” without addressing the main causes that gave way to runaway inflation.

The groups Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) and Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) said that the country’s economic managers need not to look far to curb inflation. The solution, they said, is “staring at them all this time. Of all the commodities that can impact the prices of basic commodities at multiple levels, oil prices must be checked”.

They strongly demanded for the immediate scrapping of the entire excise tax package on crude oil as well as the collection of value added tax (VAT) on petroleum and petroleum products to unburden consumers with overtaxation.

BMP President, Luke Espiritu said that, the economic managers are “deliberately acting naive” to the impacts of a continued collection of excise taxes and VAT on oil. “It is an historical fact that the demand for oil increases as winter sets in on the Global North. Such demand will inevitably push commodity prices upward as global petroleum prices rise”.

“Defering on the oil excise tax collection for 2019 does not alleviate the yoke on the shoulders of daily wage earners and those belonging to the infomal labor sector who did not benefit from income tax exemptions,” he added.

The labor group decried that the economic managers are more concerned with the loss of revenue if they suspend all levies mandated by the TRAIN Law.

“Again, these economists are looking at the wrong place if they seek for revenue. The disposable income of the poor is already close to nil after being overtaxed. The logical choice for them is to levy the multi-billionaires who have acquired so much wealth, not the poor,” he explained.

Meaniwihle, the groups also welcomed recent statements by Senator Cynthia Villar who regretted to have supported the TRAIN Law that led to inflation. Villar joins Senators JV Ejercito, Grace Poe and Nancy Binay who have called for the suspension of the TRAIN Law and Senators Ping Lacson, Risa Hontiveros, Antonio Trillanes III and Bam Aquino who voted against it.

Espiritu declared, “The harm and damage has been done and all the workers and the poor got was a simple sorry, which may be better than callous indifference but won’t make a difference until words are matched up with concrete actions”.

On Tuesday, the country’s economic managers revised the country’s economic outlook by adjusting its inflation forecast for the year to a range of 4.8% to 5.2%, from the previous 2% to 4%.

They also planned to employ tax reform law's social mitigating measures, and policy interventions in the education and labor sectors towards job generation, enticing investors by accelerating its infrastructure program, reducing the corporate income tax rate, restrictions on foreign investments, and the cost of doing business.

Meanwhile, Sonny Melencio, chairperson of PLM chastised the bourgeois economists for the lack of bolder and more decisive measures they have set to curb inflation.

“Their prescription, which caused the malady in prices, has not changed. They still subscribe to the market-driven economics in a period of monopoly and regulatory capture. What is needed is price control and greater regulation,” he said.

PLM asserts the recommendations of the economic managers must be felt by the poor. It must reach the talipapa level in order to have a substantial impact on the Filipino household.

“It is imperative that the Duterte administration address overtaxation of fuel to mitigate the impacts on the measly incomes of the poor in the months to come,” he concluded. ###

Martes, Oktubre 16, 2018

Groups say deferment of second tranche on fuel excise tax will not curb inflation

As many welcome the recent order to defer the collection of the second tranche of oil excise taxes under the TRAIN Law, progressive groups insisted that the order has no effect on runaway inflation.

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) and Partido Lakas ng Masa, claimed in a statement that the deferment order by President Rodrigo Duterte was “a flimsy attempt” to control the forseen impacts to be inflicted by the second round of excise tax collection yet it does not raise a finger to address the price shocks generated by the first tranche.

The groups argued that Duterte’s deferment order greatly differs from the actual suspension of the oil excise taxes. They said, it “merely acknowledged without admitting, much less act on” the excessive strain caused by the entire tax reform package on ordinary Filipino families.

The progressives also decried the continued inaction of the government to curb inflation as the implications of first tranche of the TRAIN Law remains in full effect.

Under the first tranche, excise taxes on diesel fuel are pegged at P2.50 per liter and P7.00 per liter for gasoline.

The administration merely deferred on the P4.50 excise tax increase for diesel and P9.00 for gasoline under the second tranche.

“The Duterte administration remains condemnable for remaining adamant to the pleas of majority of Filipinos living on intermitent incomes who have been adversely affected by overtaxation,” said Luke Espiritu, president of BMP.

“The sharp rise of self-rated poor families of latest SWS survey should speak volumes and requires the administration’s full attention and swift action. Deferring on the excise tax collection for 2019 has no effect on the economic crunch currently besetting the poor,” he added.

BMP says that besides the non-fulfillment of the promised benefits under the TRAIN Law, the administration has not made any effort to address the structural injustices inflicted on the poor.

“Not only are workers burdened with overtaxation but also suffering from failed policy reforms or the lack of it. Contractualization remains to be in full swing three years into Duterte’s term, the massive budget cuts on social services and with the inflation rates hitting 6.7% last month, purchasing power of workers have obviously weakened immensely”, Espiritu lamented.

Despite the economic managers’ denial of the TRAIN Law’s contribution to inflation, Sonny Melencio, chairperson of PLM urged them to go beyond their statistics and projections and admit that they overlooked the impact of the US-China trade wars, the rising prices of petroleum in the global market and the struggling foreign exchange rates that makes imports more expensive, all of which contribute to spiraling inflation.

Melencio called for the immediate scrapping of the TRAIN Law to address the budgetary contraints of Filipino familes before the yuletide season and that they may enjoy a reprieve from the taxes levied against them.

He also warned that, the deferment shall be proven ineffective and will only drive more people to the streets as price hikes will be inevitable in the next two months due to the increase of global petroleum prices.

“Not unless Duterte acts on this, the administration’s senatorial line up as well as their other allies in Congress shall reap a catastrophic protest vote from the impoversihed social classes, reminiscent of the 2016 national elections”, Melencio foretold.

BMP and PLM also announced that they will hold joint protests in the weeks to come to call for immediate price control side by side with their demands to end contractualization, an increase in the national budget for social services, a P750 national minimum wage and the scrapping of the oil deregulation law. ###

Wakasan ang Impunidad!

Hustisya sa mga Manggagawang Pinaslang sa Hacienda Luisita!

Ka Romy speaking

BMP Dep. Sec. Gen. Ka Romy Castillo

Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.- Karl Marx

Mabuhay ang BMP-K!

"Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are impossible without feminine upheaval. Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included." - Karl Marx

BMP-Kababaihan

"Women's propaganda must touch upon all those questions which are of great importance to the general proletarian movement. The main task is, indeed, to awaken the women's class consciousness and to incorporate them into the class struggle." - Clara Zetkin

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White to move and mate in 3

"If a ruler does not understand chess, how can he rule over a kingdom?" - Sassanian King of Kings, Khusros II